How It Could Have Been
by Aba-khatun
Summary: Hermione discovers something at her five year reunion.


How It Could Have Been  
By Abi  
  
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. They're Rowling's. Plus, this story is really terrible.  
  
  
Hermione Granger walked slowly into the dining hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, her velvety robes trailing behind her regally and her long, chestnut hair pinned back into an assortment of curls and ringlets. Her sparkling eyes widened as she withheld the ancient magnificence of the hall...and old memories swept back to her as though she were merely eleven years old again.  
  
"Hermione." The low, deep voice startled her as she turned quickly around to face her fiancee, a young man with dark features and distinguished nose, with piercing eyes and thick eyebrows. Hermione smiled briefly, and took his arm. "I think we are among the first here, Victor," she whispered.  
  
"Yes, and I've been asked for autographs three times already!" He smirked. "You would think they would remember me, aye?"  
  
Hermione smiled, and scanned the room for her old friends. It had been five years since she had seen Ron...and it had been at the graduation ceremony. He had left immediately for Romania to help his brother study dragons, and hadn't come back since. Harry often visited Victor and Hermione, however, still a bachelor but very much in touch with his school-days best friend.  
  
"Ah! There's Harry," Victor stated, pointing to the young man across the room. Harry's hair looked a bit disheveled, but he had finally lost his glasses for contact lenses and looked absolutely marvelous.   
  
"Harry!" cried Hermione. "How are you doing?"  
  
"I'm fine, my dear." Harry grinned. "I thought I was late, but I suppose I was wrong. Where's Ron? I haven't heard from him in months."  
  
Hermione dropped her eyes. "Months? I haven't heard from him in years."  
  
Victor looked a bit uncomfortable talking with his fiancee and her old friend about Ron, so he started in a conversation about his old Quidditch days with a few very young kids that had tagged along with their mothers and fathers. Hermione cast a glance his way. "He's wonderful, isn't he? Have you seen my ring yet, Harry?"  
  
Harry blinked. "Why, no I haven't."  
  
She flashed her hand toward his eyes, showing him her large, sparkling diamond in pride. "I love him dearly. Have you been on any dates lately, Harry?"  
  
"Just one, but it didn't work so well. Speaking of dates..." He smirked at Cho Chang's way, who looked very hectic with a black-headed infant in one arm and a wee tot clutching her other hang. "She certainly got around, didn't she?" He smirked. "I haven't been able to speak with her since she dumped me so horribly that one day seventh year...remember that?"  
  
"I do. You laid in your bed for five days straight and wouldn't talk to anyone." Hermione laughed. "My poor Harry."  
  
"Ah, yes, but things have changed now." He glared at her briefly, then turned back to Hermione. "Speaking of change..."  
  
Hermione flipped around to see what he was talking about, and the doors had been opened to let another former student into the reunion. His skin was tanned slightly, and he was taller than both Harry and Hermione. She couldn't recognize him...he had a sturdy jaw and an extremely handsome face. The thing that gave him away was his dark hair, that glinted bright auburn in the hall lights.  
  
Hermione's heart dropped to her stomach. "Ron..." she whispered.  
  
Harry grinned. "Yes...Ron! Ron! Get over here!"  
  
Ron Weasley looked for the familiar voice, and saw his friends standing in the corner. Hermione had a chill run up her spine as she stared into the eyes of her school chum, who was smiling slightly and almost fazed. "Is that you, Hermione Granger?" he whispered, leaning in closer to get a better look at her. She nodded, not letting her gaze slip. Ron fondled one of the curls that fell behind her ears and grinned. "You look absolutely stunning. And I mean that."  
  
Hermione blushed. "Well, well now-"  
  
"And Harry!" Ron cried, throwing his arms in the air and embracing his best friend. "I missed you! Why didn't you visit me in Romania when I asked?"  
  
"I had a lot of stuff to do," he replied, muffled behind Ron's strong grip. As he pulled away, Harry looked at him quizzically. "You haven't written Hermione in years?"  
  
Hermione glared at Harry. "I-I didn't say that-"  
  
"Oh, but I have." Ron hugged Hermione, inhaling her mystic scent. "I wrote you so often, Hermione, but Errol always came back with the letter that I wrote. Where have you been?"  
  
She gasped. "Oh...oh I forgot to give you my new address...I've been living with..."  
  
"Hullo, Ron." Victor came up behind him, patting him on the shoulder. Even with Ron's apparent strong build, Victor would always outweigh him. Victor grinned. "Have you heard about me and Hermione?"  
  
Ron raised an eyebrow. "So...you call her by the right name now, aye?"  
  
"Yer funny, there, Weasley." Victor grinned. "We're getting married. You better get a look at her ring."  
  
Hermione clenched her teeth and showed Ron her ring, and he studied it with great admiration. She didn't want him to know about Victor. Not yet. She took Ron by the arm and led him away from their small crowd. "We have a lot of catching up to do," she explained to Victor, and they headed down the corridors of Hogwarts.  
  
"So, you're going to be Mrs. Krum now, huh?" Ron stated, a bit uncomfortably.  
  
"Yes...we've been dating now for three years. I-I love him."  
  
"You say that like you're unsure." Ron raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I missed you, so much. It killed me when Errol sent my letters back."  
  
"And I'm sorry about that, I completely forgot about the address change. How clumsy of me." There was a silence. "How were things in Romania? Did you meet any girls?" she chuckled.  
  
"Not many, actually. I had no intention to. I was planning to come back to this reunion and-"  
  
"And what?"  
  
"Well, it might sound stupid of me," he said, "but for the entire time I've known you, I've loved you, Hermione Granger." He bowed his head slightly, a bit ashamed. "I was going to come back to this reunion and see if I couldn't stay here, with you." They stopped in front of the Fat Lady portrait, and Ron looked up at it with interest. "I missed you so much. I missed this whole castle, and the times we had together. I missed your frizzy hair, and the way you knew everything, and...and I just knew you would end up with Krum."  
  
"How could you have possibly known that?" Hermione insisted. "It's not my fault you went to Romania for five years, abandoning Harry and I."  
  
"I didn't abandon you, or at least, I had no intention to," Ron said, clutching her hands and gazing into her eyes. "But I know you'll be happy with Krum. He has money, and a big house, and he's famous. What more could you ask for?"  
  
"I wouldn't have inclined if you had been here, Ron," Hermione whispered.   
  
"And if I had been here, I would have swept you off your feet, Hermione." Ron smiled. "I couldn't have bought you everything your heart desired like Krum can, but I would have loved you one hundred times more. When I realized I couldn't have you, because of our distance in heart and body, I became very upset."  
  
"Upset? Oh God, Ron-" Hermione looked at her feet, wringing her hands. "How long are you staying here?"  
  
"The rest of my life." Ron grinned.   
  
"Listen, Ron, if you really want to know, I love you too...I've loved you since first year...I-"  
  
In the dark corridor corners, a figure emerged, with slightly disheveled hair and a small smile on his face. "Don't say those things, Hermione," Harry whispered, smirking slightly. "You have a wonderful fiancee. He could buy you the world. Wouldn't you hate for him to hear what you just said?"  
  
"Harry!" cried Hermione, spinning around. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Ron interrupted. "Hermione, during sixth year, I wrote you a letter. I spilled my heart out to you, telling you exactly how I felt about you and had always felt about you. I put it on your bed. Do you remember that?"  
  
"I didn't get such a letter..."  
  
"Don't lie to me," Ron snapped. "I set it right there, for you to read, with my best handwriting and my high hopes that you might have feelings for me. But what do I get in response? Nothing! Not any acknowledgement that you even read my three page letter. And then, you don't give me your new address, completely shutting me out from your life!"  
  
Hermione's heart dropped. "Lavender or someone must have taken it...oh, my darling Ron, I never read that letter..."  
  
"It's too late now," he scowled. "Have a wonderful life with Krum. I wasted seven years on my life loving you, and now I've given up." He turned away, and walked toward the entrance doors, casting a backwards glance at Harry. "Come on, Harry, it's getting late."  
  
Harry nodded. "I'm coming." He rushed up to his friend in time to take his hand and leave Hermione with her empty hopes and dreams and the large diamond on her hand, and their fingers intertwined as they walked out together into the wintry night. 


End file.
